Apple to Pay 318 Million Euros in Italy to Settle Corporate Tax Probe
Apple has agreed to pay 318 million euros in Italy to settle an investigation that determined the iPhone and iPad maker failed to pay nearly triple that amount in corporate taxes in the country over a five year period, according to Italian newspaper La Repubblica.
Italian regulators in Milan concluded a tax probe of Apple in March, accusing the company of booking profits generated in Italy through an Irish subsidiary in an effort to lower its taxable income base and save 879 million euros between 2008 and 2013.
Apple has yet to comment on the deal, but previously said it has paid all necessary taxes in countries that it operates. “These new allegations against our employees are completely without merit and we’re confident this process will reach the same conclusion,” the company said in March.
Apple Italia is part of the company’s European operation headquartered in Ireland, where Apple pays a significantly lower corporate tax rate compared to other EU countries. Ireland has a corporate tax rate of 12.5% for normal business activities, compared to a standard rate of 27.5% in Italy, per The Guardian.
Apple faces a similar Irish tax probe by the European Commission, which formally accused the company of receiving illegal state aid from Ireland in September 2014. A decision in the lengthy investigation has likely been delayed until early 2016, as the Brussels-based executive cabinet has requested supplementary questionnaires.
Apple’s tax policies in Europe have come under intense scrutiny over the past three years, as the company is said to utilize multiple subsidiary companies located in the Irish city of Cork to move money around without significant tax penalties. Apple continues to deny any wrongdoing, and CEO Tim Cook recently described the accusations as “total political crap” on 60 Minutes.
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[Deal] Watch Netflix and Hulu without interruption via GetFlix for $39
So you’re traveling to Europe on vacation, but want to be able to go on your Netflix binge if you have time. Today’s deal from AndroidGuys is here to help you do that.
We all know about network congestion while we are at our home, and have a slew of devices on the network. Let’s face it, even though we have all these toys, they do hog the bandwidth, so why would you want to deal with that in unfamiliar territory while you’re overseas.
Today’s deal is for a Lifetime Subscription to GetFlix. This is similar to a VPN as it re-routes your traffic through a different server, but it also pays attention the various speeds that your traffic may be re-routed through.
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If you travel abroad, and know you’re going to use Netflix or Hulu, you can grab GetFlix for only $39 today. Normally priced at $330, you’ll be saving almost 90% for jumping on this deal through AndroidGuys and StackCommerce. Included with this deal, you’ll be able to activate an option VPN account if you want to keep all of your data encrypted, so that none of your pertinent information falls into the wrong hands.
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The post [Deal] Watch Netflix and Hulu without interruption via GetFlix for $39 appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Politicians are trying to legalize ‘hoverboards’ in New York
Plenty of New Yorkers will have woken up on Christmas morning and discovered a motorized two-wheeler, otherwise known as a “hoverboard,” underneath their festive tree. The electric curiosities are currently illegal to ride in the city, but a small group of politicians are fighting to lift the ban with an amended set of traffic laws. New York State Senator Jose Peralta held a news conference yesterday with Assembleyman David Weprin and council members Andy King and Ydanis Rodriguez; they’re pushing forward two bills which, if passed by the New York Senate and Assembly, could make the devices legal on public roads and sidewalks.
The Senate bill seeks to change two sections of the Vehicle and Traffic Law, which categorises hoverboards as a “motor vehicle.” Under this definition, riders can’t use them unless they’re registered — which means they’re illegal, because at the moment it’s impossible to register a hoverboard with the Department of Motor Vehicles. The proposed bill would exempt the two-wheelers from this category and, by extension, the required registration, giving lawmakers the chance to introduce new, tailored rules.
“We want to make sure that they are safe while they’re riding them. Technically we know that they are illegal but they’re still being sold across America as well as in the state of New York,” King said according to the Observer. “We want to make sure that if anyone is riding them, that they’re not violating the law.”
The four politicians face an uphill battle though. Hoverboards have earned a reputation as a fire hazard, forcing Amazon and other online retailers to pull them from their virtual store shelves. The situation is so bad that Saturday Night Live took notice and created a wonderfully hilarious skit about it. There’s no question that the riding experience is novel though — that’s why they’re so popular at the moment. (The videos of people inevitably falling over has also fuelled the public’s intrigue.)
For the foreseeable future, people will continue to buy and ride hoverboards, which is why, the new bills’ creators argue, it’s so important to amend existing legislation. Instead of fining everyone that takes the device for a quick test-spin, it’s better to introduce new rules that makes them safer for the rider and those around them. That’s the argument, anyway. “They’re exploding all over the place. We need to stop that,” Peralta said. “The only way to do that is if we regulate them.”
Source: NYT, Observer, The New York State Senate
Samsung says its new Tizen TVs will be harder to hack
Samsung has announced that its next generation of Tizen smart TVs will be a lot harder to crack than before. The firm has created Gaia, a security product for its 2016 range that promises to do for TV what Knox did for its smartphones. Some of the features promised include locking your credit card information with a smartphone-style pin, encrypting the data it sends out and a built-in anti-malware system. In addition, the TVs will ship with physical encryption chips to make it that much harder for others to access your microphone or, in some models, webcam.
Samsung’s betting big on the internet of things to help recover some of its lost profits, and wants the TV to sit at the heart of this strategy. It believes that people will want to activate their lights, heating and garage doors all from the comfort of their couch without having to take their eyes off The Big Bang Theory. If smart TVs get a reputation for being easy to hack, then Samsung’s models are hardly likely to be big sellers.
The security of smart TVs is becoming more of an issue across the industry after firms like Vizio were caught with hilariously lax policies. Earlier this year, security researchers discovered that the company’s smart TVs didn’t bother to validate that the servers it pumped private information to were secure. Since those units famously track your viewing habits, even when not watching live broadcasts, it was pretty easy for nefarious types to gain access to your home. Hopefully other firms will lock down their TVs in a similar fashion in order to avoid ruining the lives of more of their users in 2016.
Source: Samsung
Leak suggests Galaxy A9 will retail for just under $500 in China
Samsung’s latest phablet has come as a surprise for some: unlike the other members of the Galaxy A 2016 family, the Galaxy A9 has no such “subtitle” for it is the first of its kind. Sporting a 6-inch Full HD Super AMOLED display and with a metal unibody frame, the device is perfect for those who wanted a truly large phone from Samsung yet had to make do with a Plus 5. Today, a new leak out of China has added a possible price point as well: 3199 yuan (about $490).
Given the device’s prime positioning as an upper mid-range phone, the cost would appear to be a fair price, all the more considering how expensive the Galaxy A8 was in some territories.
Those in need of a spec recap will be happy to note that the Galaxy A9 comes with the aforementioned 6-inch Full HD Super AMOLED display (complete with 2.5D glass), a 64-bit Octa Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 SoC, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of on-board storage, a 13-megapixel rear camera and 8-megapixel front camera, an integrated fingerprint sensor, Dual SIM support, a 4,000mAh battery, microSD support, and Android 5.1.1.
While the exact release date for the extra-large phone is still unknown, it is possible Samsung will announce its plans in the next few weeks given the decision to launch it prior to CES 2016. At the same time, the phone has currently only been announced for China and is therefore operating on a slightly different release schedule. Perhaps it will hit stores just before Chinese New Year.
What do you think of the cost? Assuming the leak is legitimate, would you pay around $500 for such a device? Is it too expensive given the competition? Leave us your thoughts in the comments below!
Google Cardboard helps doctor save baby’s life
Virtual Reality is spreading all over the world. Content is growing, more and more headsets are coming into the picture (hell, you can even get them from cereal boxes now!) and there is even a theme park in the works. But what about the VR applications that actually make a difference? Having fun is important, but that is not the only thing VR is good at. Today we are learning that this newly adopted technology can even save lives… and it already has.
A group of doctors from Miami, Florida found themselves in a tight spot after realizing 4-month old Teegan Lexcen had a misplaced heart (it was too far to the left of the baby’s body). Surgery was the only option, but her age and heart location made it hard for other surgeons to visualize the procedure and move forward safely.
Most doctors would agree that this was “inoperable”, but the Florida-based team didn’t give up so easily. Dr. Burke was handed a little piece of cardboard that changed everything, and saved this baby, who was said to have otherwise passed away by Christmas.
“Dr. Juan-Carlos Muniz who runs our MRI program came to me two weeks before surgery and handed me a piece of cardboard with a smartphone in it. I looked inside and just by tilting my head I could see the patient’s heart. I could turn it. I could manipulate it. I could see it as if I were standing in the operating room.” -Dr. Burke
Being able to manipulate this CT scan also allowed Burke to see if making an incision through the sternum would be enough, or if he would need to go directly above where the heart is located. The former ended up being the case.
Google Cardboard articles:
- How to use Google Cardboard
- How to make your own Google Cardboard headset
- 7 best Google Cardboard games and apps
https://sketchfab.com/models/9f8c6bc0e2644edbbeb1b7c4fab47af3/embed
Heart Scan LQ
by iprototypedit.com
on Sketchfab
OK, so VR didn’t exactly save the baby’s life, but it helped the doctor plan things better for a successful surgery. Things would have been more complicated otherwise. In this case, Google Cardboard was simply a tool. An easy-to-get, inexpensive one with a lot of potential. And since it is powered by a smartphone, pretty much everyone already has this medical tool in their pockets.
These doctors have now become true believers of the VR movement, and have committed to get the word out about them.
“In every industry there are innovators, and early adopters. We want to reach out to developers and connect the people with the ideas to the people who perform the operations and the manufacturers who make the equipment.” -Dr. Burke
So there you have it, guys. Google Cardboard and other VR headsets are not only good for epic battles, awesome flying simulators, interactive content and 3D videos. They can also change the world and open doors to new opportunities. We will now get back to our gaming, but at least we know the same devices we are wasting time with are doing something more important elsewhere.
China’s Smartisan T2 flaunts a sleek design and metal frame
Reasonably priced Chinese smartphones with decent specifications are a dime a dozen these days, but you still have to look to the top tier OEMs for the best build quality. Smartisan’s new T2 flagship aims to buck this trend with a metallic frame and a rather sleek, minimalistic look.
The T2 arrives 19 months after Smartisan’s T1 début and takes on quite a different design. There’s an all new seamless aluminium frame, a complete absence of a power button, no visible SIM tray and no bulging camera module or other protruding parts to ruin the look. There are some clever bits of design too. The nano SIM tray is hidden behind the right set of volume keys and pops out if you poke the nearby hole. Power is now controlled completely from the home button too.
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The range of customization options is also quite impressive. The left and right volume rockers can be switched between brightness and audio depending on if you’re left or right handed. There are also three customizable buttons at the bottom of the phone, including the home button, which can be assigned various shortcuts.
In terms of hardware, the Smartisan T2 is perhaps a little more standard. The devices features a 5-inch 1080p LCD display and is powered by a hexa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor. There’s 3GB of LPDDR3 RAM on board, 16GB or 32GB of internal memory to choose from but no microSD card slot, and a 13 megapixel rear camera 5 megapixel front camera combination. The phone also features a USB Type-C connector and the company’s Smartisan OS 2.5 based on Android 5.1 Lollipop.
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The Smartisan T2 is not the cheapest Chinese handset with its 2,499 Yuan ($385) price tag for the 16GB version and 2,599 Yuan ($400) cost for 32GB of storage, but is still very reasonable given the design and hardware. There’s no word yet on whether the T2 will ever retail outside of China, but the company is planning to expand later in the year. Hopefully some importers will pick it up.
LG has a smarthome hub that looks a lot like an Amazon Echo
LG is like the kid who can’t keep what he got you for Christmas a secret. Except here, it isn’t gifts wrapped under the tree, it’s what the electronics giant will be showing off at CES. A home automation hub, dubbed “SmartThinQ Hub,” will join its smattering of monitors and laptops in Las Vegas next week. And honestly, you’d be forgiven if you mistook it for Amazon’s cylindrical Echo after a quick glance. LG says that the Internet of Things gizmo “serves as a gateway to smart sensors and connected appliances” but it’ll also stream music and via its 3.5-inch LCD, display calendar reminders. No TV required!
The announcement post goes on to say that the device will collect info from smart appliances like washing machines and ovens and dumb household implements plugged into its SmartThinq sensors via Bluetooth, WiFi and Zigbee. That data can either appear on the LCD or the Hub can read them aloud. The hybrid speaker comes in a pair of colors (champagne gold and black), supports Alljoyn’s open source platform for ease of interoperability and its manufacturer even recently struck a deal with home improvement store Lowe’s to hook in with its Iris home system. The only questions left at this point are how much this thing will cost and if LG will have any surprises left next week.
Source: LG
Nadine the social robot takes you straight to ‘Uncanny Valley’
The two women in the image above might resemble each other, but looking more closely at the one in black might make you feel a bit uncomfortable. That’s because she’s a humanoid robot named Nadine, made in the likeness of creator Professor Nadia Thalmann from Nanyang Technological University (NTU Singapore). Nadine is loaded with intelligent “assistant” software similar to Siri and Cortana, with her own moods and emotions. She can also remember the people she’d met before and the contents of their conversation.
Professor Thalmann’s robotic doppelganger was developed to become a personal assistant or a companion for kids and the elderly in the future. She believes social robots like her creation could eventually become real-life C-3POs “with knowledge of language and etiquette.” For now, she and her team are putting Nadine to work as a receptionist at the university.
Besides the humanoid robot, NTU Singapore has also unveiled a telepresence machine named Edgar. Unlike his eerily human-like sister, he’s what you’d expect a robot to look like, but with two arms and a rear-projection screen for a face. So long as you use a special webcam from your location, Edgar can mimic not only your facial expressions, but also your upper body movements.
Check out Nadine in action at an end-of-the-year party in 2013:
Via: Gizmag
Source: Nanyang Technological University
Google will strip Oracle’s Java code out of Android
Google has confirmed that it will no longer use Java application programming interfaces (APIs) from Oracle in future versions of Android, according to VentureBeat. Instead, it will switch to OpenJDK, an open-source version of Oracle’s own Java Development Kit. While you might ask, “Who actually cares?”, Google says the change will simplify app development by creating a common codebase for Java. It’s hard to imagine that such a huge change (8,902 files are supposedly affected) isn’t related to Google’s ongoing legal dispute with Oracle, though. That dispute, depending on how it’s resolved, could adversely affect Android development and app coding in general.
The epic dispute started when Oracle sued Google for copyright back in 2010, claiming that Google improperly used its Java APIs. Google argued that the APIs in question were essential for to software innovation, and therefore couldn’t be copyrighted. In 2012, a jury found that Google didn’t infringe Oracle’s copyright, but a Federal court mostly reversed the decision in 2014. The US Supreme court didn’t want to touch the case and sent it back to a lower court, where it currently sits.
Users on Y Combinator’s Hacker News who first spotted the code have theorized that it may mean that Google and Oracle have settled the lawsuit out of court. However, Google told VentureBeat that the legal dispute is still ongoing, so it couldn’t comment on whether the code change is related. As for how this affects you or me, the new code should make it a touch simpler for Android N developers, possibly resulting in better apps and quicker updates. However, the court’s upcoming decision could have much wider ramifications. If they decide that API’s from the likes of Java can be copyrighted, it could turn the patent wars into even more of a cluster-you-know-what.
Source: VentureBeat
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